Vegetarian Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
On our journey to the world's highest tea plantation on Kolukkumala in Kerala (Kerala/ Tamil Nadu Border) in India, we stopped for lunch at Club Mahindra.
Coming up to the building, it seems like an oasis in the dessert, or tea plantation as it were. The resort is made up of a series of buildings, of which the main building is where we entered for the restaurant. The photo in this post, taken by Jennifer Kumar, is the fountain at the entry of the hotel.
We entered near the end of the buffet at 2pm. That being the case, the buffet was fully stocked with a variety of North Indian and South Indian lunch items and savories. The staff did warn us a few minutes before they were to clear the main dishes out. The sweet dishes were left back for a bit longer. Here I remember eating a litchi mousse desert which was very tasty. Overall the buffet was very nice and the variety was good. The surroundings was clean and the waitstaff were responsive to us.
Of course, this being a top notch resort (though not rated in the 4 star system as noted to me by our tour driver) the price was very high compared to any other local establishment. For two buffets and two Madras coffees, we paid Rs 901 (about $22 US). It was a price comparable to Indian buffets where we live in New York State, but with much more variety than any [Indian] buffet we have been in the U.S.
I recommend you eat here if you don't want to think twice about hygiene, variety, responsive staff and a great ambiance and don't mind paying ten times more than you would in any other place! (As a reference in Kochi we paid Rs. 166 for a meal for 5 at Sree Krishna Cafe!)
Visit their Munnar Website.
Have you eaten at Club Mahindra near Munnar or in any location in India? If so, please share your thoughts below.
Thank you for reading!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Club Mahindra, Munnar, Kerala, India
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Lodge at Woodcliff, Fairport, NY
Vegetarian Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
Meet and Greet
Walking into the Woodcliff Lodge is always an amazing experience. I always feel larger than life when I enter this place because it is so shiny, grand and full of well-dressed business men and elegant ladies. This occasion has to be the third or fourth visit we have made to this restaurant. With each visit, the staff always greets us with a smile; seat us without reservations (though I think they recommend reservations).
Mise en Scène
The lodge sits on the side of a hill, where looking to the North and West, one can experience the views of Rochester. Though window seats are preferable, most tables in the restaurant will offer a good view. However, this time we were placed at a prime location for a viewing of the setting sun. Luminous dark blues, purples, yellows and oranges encompassed us as we ate our anniversary meal.
On a side note, we joke that ‘Mr. Sun’ is always teasing us. Whenever we plan to meet him setting or rising with camera in tow, he doesn’t shine or show his face to us. However, on these occasions when we don’t have a camera, there is Mr. Sun full, bright and eager to show off to us! The beauty of the sun only is shown to us when we can actually experience it eye to eye and not through the eye of a camera!
Looking around the restaurant, one will see the well dressed business men and graceful women in elegant dresses. Though it is true it’s best to dress to impress, we have seen people wear semi-formal and business casual while enjoying their time here. I would not recommend wearing jeans and a t-shirt here. I don’t think they would turn you away, but one may feel out of place dressed down. A bar is attached to this restaurant, where I believe the dress code is a bit more lax. In fact, one has to enter the restaurant through the bar only.
Sitting down, the table is set for a three course meal full with different size of wine glasses. Since we aren’t wine drinkers, we still have yet to figure out why there are different size wine glasses. In any case, the waitress finds out we want coffee (which is one of the tastiest cups in the area), and quickly clears the wine glasses.
Upon desert time, the waiter will bring a plate of deserts so you can see what they look like. Up close and personal, who can deny themselves? Because of this, on several occasions visiting this location, we have had a “backwards meal” (having dessert first, main course, followed by appetizer).
**We did not have to use restrooms, so no comment on that ambiance!
Choosing a Veggie Treat
They have updated their menu from the one on their website. The new, improved menu has small tags saying ‘veggie’ next to them if they are vegetarian. There were at least 4-5 veggie appetizers and one veggie entrée.
For appetizers, we got a corn flan and black bean spicy cakes. Both were nice and tasty. I usually don’t like flan, but since I had never seen flan for anything but a dessert item, I chose that. It turned out to be nice. It has its own taste, which was very smooth. But, we liked the spicy black bean cakes better as they were like small spicy handmade veggie burgers.
Since there was only one veggie entrée, we chose the spicy Udon noodles. We were told that this menu item was not available and were given other options that would have been handcrafted just for us by the chef. These choices were mainly other types of pasta dishes. Luckily, for the Udon dish the only thing missing was the actually Udon noodles, but the veggies and sauce was available. So, we got the same dish but substituted the Udon noodles with linguine. We had ordered only one serving and asked to share it. When it was served, it was served to us on two different plates, ready to eat. The taste was amazing. We savored it to the last drop of sauce.
For dessert we got a banana bread/ice cream dish and a peanut butter mouse type of dessert. Both were very good. In fact, I was impressed by the smoothness of the peanut butter. The only problem I had with the peanut butter dessert was the size. I am not sure who could eat that much peanut butter at one sitting. It was truly a shame to have left some behind, though.
Checking In
One of the reasons we return on subsequent visits to this location is because of the prompt, friendly and individualized service. It is truly the service that makes the higher price of this location an afterthought.
See you later
Receiving the bill and waiting for payment to return is timely.
Pay Scale
$6-10 per person for appetizers each and desserts
$15-25 per person for the entrée
**We spilt the main course. I think they charged us a fee of about $4 to split it. They did serve the entrée split in half on two plates.
Tips
15-20% is recommended due to superior service. Service is always great.
Star System: 4 or 5 out of 5.
4 out of 5 if this above your budget because it is pricy.
5 out of 5 if it falls within your budget or you can save up and have a nice night out.
To find/Contact
Horizons Restaurant
199 Woodcliff Dr
Fairport, NY 14450
(585) 248-4825
Mapquest location map
Other reviews at Google.
Have you eaten at The Lodge at Woodcliff? If so, please share your thoughts below.
Thank you for reading!
tags: 4 stars, 5 stars, "Fairport NY"," great views", "reservations recommended", "great service", "individualized sevice", "backwards meal", "hilltop dining", "restaurant in a hotel", "restaurant review",“Restaurant Reviews”,” Rochester, New York Restaurant Reviews”,” Rochester, NY Restaurant Reviews”,” Rochester Restaurant Reviews”
Friday, June 20, 2008
White Water Grill, Charleston, West Virginia
Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
Meet and Greet
We had come for a Sunday Brunch to meet some of my mom’s classmates for their 40th high school reunion. Because of this, we did not have to wait in line. This was a good thing because the wait seemed to be more than 30 minutes at 11am.
Soon as we sat down the waitress offered us a choice of menu or buffet and offered us a choice of drinks. Within minutes coffee was served.
Also, as more people were added to our party, the wait staff was efficient in adding on to our table by moving in more tables and chairs.
Mise en Scène
Nice and spacious eatery. Dress seemed to be casual to semi-formal. Many people were in jeans and t-shirts. The areas were very clean and in order. The buffet was also well stocked and very clean. We were seated in a small room off the side of the main dining hall. It was nice and private. Besides, our party (about 15 members) only few other couples were seated in this room, which had easy access to the buffet.
**We did not have to use restrooms, so no comment on that ambiance!
Choosing a Veggie Treat
Looking at the menu there would have been several interested veggie omelets (I do eat eggs). But, as the majority of us looked through the items on the buffet, we decided to have the buffet. The buffet had breakfast items (a create your own omelet bar, fresh made pancakes and waffles station, fresh fruit, cereal, milk, and other hot breakfast items), lunch items (pasta, plain steamed vegetables, soups, and a few meat dishes), and deserts. Overall, I was impressed by the number of vegetarian options on the buffet. It was easy to find something to eat, and eat a lot!
Checking In
Wait staff came by frequently to clear plates and offer more drinks as we emptied our glass. No complaints. In fact, it was the most courteous, efficient wait staff I have interacted with in a long time!
See you later
The wait staff had given us the bill as she noticed we were finishing up. The bill with the credit card was collected as soon as it was ready. We had left the tip on the table in cash, so I had altered the staff as the room was empty and wanted to assure the tips got into the right hands. Even on our way out, the line was going strong. People seem to really like this buffet. I can understand why this place is busy- (1) friendly and efficient wait staff, (2) clean buffet with a lot of choices, (3) clean atmosphere, (4) price is economical for variety.
Pay Scale
$6-10 per person ($7.95 Bruch for Kids – price includes drinks)
$11-15 per person ($14.95 Brunch for Adults – price includes drinks)
Tips: We left $10.00 (over 10% of total)
Star System 4/5
I would definitely go back again!
To find/contact
White Water Grill
Charleston
(304) 353-3636
Whitewater Grille at Marriott Website
**This eatery is located inside the Marriott hotel in downtown
Directions TO White Water Grill
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Richardson's Canal House, Pittsford, NY
Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
Richardson's Canal House is located on the Erie Canal in Bushnell's Basin near to Pittsford, New York. The bright yellow building is situated cozily between the canal and the one way bridge on Marsh Road while still somewhat visible from the main road, Route 96- Pittsford-Victor Road.
The building itself is quite old, I guess over 200 years old. It was originally used for a hotel for the canal travelers. (Currently, the entire building is used exclusively as a restaurant, overnight guests are not permitted.) Back then the canal boats did not have motors, so mules pulled the boats. Two mules would pull the boat on one side of the canal (the reason there is a canal trail near the side of the canal) and two would be resting on the boat. This canal house could be considered like a modern-day truck stop- a place to rest (or for the mules, refuel their energy) for mules and people alike, eat, and have a place to sleep for the night.
Today people don't sleep overnight in this building, it is used only for short visits to eat tasty meals. They have tried to keep the original layout of the building. We had gone for my birthday and we had reservations. We had a room upstairs all to ourselves. Inside the room was a large table, with two chairs on either end. Along one wall were old style wooden chairs, along the other a 'love seat' and a chair. The room decor also seemed to be of old world style. The walls were ornately painted with colorful and decorative borders.
Though the menu did not have any vegetarian options for appetisers, the chef made us two custom orders- one a stuffed portabello mushroom, the other a stuffed red capsicum (bell pepper). Both were tasty, but I liked the mushroom more. Inside the red pepper was a berry of some type. I don't remember the berry but it was slightly chewy and hard but was not sweet. Both had some cheese and a nice light sauce on them.
The main course was also very good. I had potato gnocchi (which was originally a side dish to a chicken meal, but was specially made for me as a main dish), and hubby had the stuffed homemade ravioli. As I pictured it, gnocchi was piled high with tomato sauce. Though the gnocchi was good, I could not finish the whole thing for two reasons, one I got full, and two it was monotonous, so I boxed the remainder and had it for a full lunch the next day. Hubby's ravioli was also very tasty, but there were only five pieces I believe. Each piece was about four or five inches long and up to 2 inches at it's widest. They were not thick, but the filling was very filling. It had a sauce on it, but I can't remember it.
We were both so stuffed that we forgone the dessert until our next visit. Maybe if we come again, we can come in the summer and sit outside along the Erie Canal!
Being an upscale restaurant, this is no cheap eat. Each appetiser was $10 a piece (actually that was not a bad deal considering each was hand crafted, and each a meal in themselves), and the two main dishes were $19 a piece. This price seems a bit high, but honestly if they were home made, I am not sure the work that goes into making each of these dishes. We had coffee to drink at $5 for two.
**It seems the menu changes on a weekly basis for this location, so maybe on other weeks there are more vegetarian options than others.
To find/contact
Richardson's Canal House
1474 Marsh Rd
Pittsford, NY 14534
Directions to Richardson's Canal House
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Olives Restaurant, Mayville, NY
Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.
Greeted by the same waitress for a late 9pm dinner and a mid morning 9:30am breakfast was a refreshing surprise.
For dinner we had bruschetta as an appetizer. There were two types of bruschetta, other than that, there were no other vegetarian appetizers on the menu. For main course, we ordered the two vegetarian items on the menu- a mushroom pizza and vegetarian pasta. The pasta was coated with an amazing red pepper cream sauce. It had a great kick.
Along with this, they served complementary salad, ciabatta bread with olive oil dip and a small cup of marinated olives. The olives were tempting. interestingly, I don't like olives. For me, eating olives reminds me of things in life we all have to do everyday but really don't want to do. I guess I overdid it on eating the olives. Wonder what that means about me!? We also had a desert- chocolate cake. Yet to eat, as it was put in a to-go box as we were stuffed completely!
For breakfast, we had a nice buffet. We came in about 9:30. The buffet was complementary as part of the room rent. This buffet was from 8-10am. From 10am the buffet was to change to a more elaborate one. Though we were there until about 10:10, they did not ask us to leave and even encouraged us to eat off this more tempting buffet. We passed as by that time we were already full.
We liked the service and ambiance of this location. Though there is a dearth of vegetarian options, we were satiated and if in the area may be tempted to visit again. (Also because there did not seem to be many vegetarian options in area restaurants.)
If you visit, it's best to make reservations, especially for dinner a day or more before you plan to visit.
To visit/contact
Olives
215 W Lake Rd
Mayville, NY 14757
716-753-2331
Olives Website
Directions to Olives, Chautauqua
